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Long story made short- my work is pretty demanding and I need something easy and quick to eat that contains aprox 300 calories and a good amount of protein.I canīt afford the BTD bars since the price in Europe is :o :o :o :o :o :o

So I have been using some pretty tasty bars from organic food barswith raw organic:almond, cranberries, dates, canesugar, maplesirup, sunflower oil, agave sirup, flax sprouts, sesame seed and raisin. Now out from a B perspective there are avoids from sunflower and sesame and out from a Explorer view they are not great at all.

Can I add wheypowder ( good for explorers) or the BTD B protein owder to a mixture of dry fruit and nuts ?? or will it taste too weird ?

Adding some sort of protein powder would make it less moist, and maybe more grainy, but would also boost the protein (duh) content. Homemade jerky is another way to get a boost of protein.

Let us know what works. ;D

Posted by: jayneeo, Tuesday, April 8, 2008, 4:40pm; Reply: 4

protein powder is ...well powder, and then needs something fluid....agave, almond butter...? sounds pretty good to me. ( the unibars are made of similar...)

Posted by: Victoria, Tuesday, April 8, 2008, 4:57pm; Reply: 5

I've never tried the NAP protein in bars. However, I have made many variations of homemade bars, for decades. Lots of experimenting and variations have come up with some that are great and some that are just ok.

I think whey would work fine for a type B, as a thickener. Also, Henriette, since you do well on dairy, powdered milk is a good binder. You could use compliant nut butters for protein, compliant chopped dried fruits, chopped nuts and seeds. Homemade granola, or a little oat bran, chia seeds, your favorite compliant sweetener (I don't add any). You could also use things like carob powder if you like it, which I don't.

Line the bottom of a 13 by 9-inch glass baking dish with parchment paper and lightly coat with canola oil. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the protein powder, oat bran, wheat flour, wheat germ, and salt. Set aside.

Coarsely chop the raisins, dried cherries, blueberries and apricots and place in a small bowl and set aside.

In a third mixing bowl, whisk the tofu until smooth. Add the apple juice, brown sugar, eggs, and peanut butter, 1 at a time, and whisk to combine after each addition. Add this to the protein powder mixture and stir well to combine. Fold in the dried fruit. Spread evenly in the prepared baking dish and bake in the oven for 35 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 205 degrees F. Remove from the oven and cool completely before cutting into squares. Cut into squares and store in an airtight container for up to a week.

On a large baking sheet, spread the granola evenly in a thin layer. Bake, stirring every 5 minutes to keep from sticking or burning, until golden brown and crisp, about 20 minutes. (Do not overcook; the granola will crisp more when cooled.) Cool the granola in the pan on top of the stove and stir in the raisins. When the granola is completely cooled, place in a large bowl.

Combine the brown sugar, corn syrup, and peanut butter in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir constantly until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is at a boil. Remove from the heat and pour the mixture over the granola, stirring to coat well. Cool slightly and press into the prepared baking dish and let cool completely and harden. Cut the mixture into ten 1 1/4 by 4-inch bars and serve at room temperature. (The bars may be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.)

(Just sub your avoids)

Posted by: Henriette Bsec, Wednesday, April 9, 2008, 8:23am; Reply: 8

:K) :K) :K) How wonderful to wake up to such great friends ....I sure need these food bars the food the old people get is :X ( and I like food in general)

Posted by: Chloe, Thursday, April 10, 2008, 1:12am; Reply: 9

This recipe looks good. It's a homemade bar similar to the expensive Lara Bar. Only makesone bar but I think proportions can be altered. It calls for dates but I'm wondering if prunes,figs, dried apricots, peaches or any other sticky dried fruit would work as a base.

pit dates and whir in a food processor or mash by hand until they're one sticky mass. this will be the base, the "glue" that will hold it all together. to this base, add about 3 Tablespoons of finely diced dried ingredients - the nuts of your choice (almonds, cashews, pecans, hazlenut, etc.), dried fruit, oats, spices, etc. with your hands mix it all together and form into a tight ball. roll this ball into a rope and then pat it flat into a rectangle. tightly wrap in plastic wrap (the wrapping will help the bar hold it's shape as you further mold it) and apply pressure to the top using a flat surface - a cutting board works well. to shape the sides you can take two knives and apply pressure to opposite ends of the bars. refrigerate wrapped. for larger batches shape into a larger square, chill and cut into desired bar shapes with a very sharp knife.

If nuts and dried fruits are the base for your bars, Henriette, you will need something sticky to hold it all together. Try starting with a big glob of almond butter and add your favorite chopped nuts to that. Then add some dried fruits, such as chopped dates, raisins, Turkish apricots. You can add some pumpkin seeds and chia seeds.

I really like blackstrap molasses, so that is what I would use if I wanted more sweetener than the dried fruit. My daughter likes agave.

This is pretty sticky, so you need something to bind it together and dry it up a bit. This is where you could add the whey or powdered milk. I think the granola would make a nice texture and make it more like food and less like dessert.

I have rolled these type of things into balls, and pressed each one with the back of a spoon. Then keep in the fridge.

If i should make something explorer friendly there really wouldnīt be many options of dry fruit :(: avoids are : dates, prunes and raisins:* dot foods: abricot, figs

However I was thinking using my own B/GTD list:SF/Diamond :Dry cranberries, dry apples, and * dry apricot - maybe figs I try to limit dates, prunes and raisins... but I really donīt know why since all 3 are fine for Bīs ??) and I feel fine with them.....

I will use SF/diamond nuts like macadamia / pecan - and maybe a *dot thing like almondbutteror walnutsHoney/maplesirup are both SF so that is easy I thought about using eitherrice flour/ milletflakes or quinoa flakes (all diamond foods) and maybe the whey to add extra protein.

If i should make something explorer friendly there really wouldnīt be many options of dry fruit :(: avoids are : dates, prunes and raisins:* dot foods: abricot, figs

However I was thinking using my own B/GTD list:SF/Diamond :Dry cranberries, dry apples, and * dry apricot - maybe figs I try to limit dates, prunes and raisins... but I really donīt know why since all 3 are fine for Bīs ??) and I feel fine with them.....

I will use SF/diamond nuts like macadamia / pecan - and maybe a *dot thing like almondbutteror walnutsHoney/maplesirup are both SF so that is easy I thought about using eitherrice flour/ milletflakes or quinoa flakes (all diamond foods) and maybe the whey to add extra protein.

Also you might consider using ground flax seeds or chia seeds if your diet allows you to have them. It adds volume, lots of fiber and helps to hold sticky fruits together very well. My healthfood store has dried organic strawberries. They seemed sticky enough to work. I was wondering if anyone has a food dehydrator. I don't happen to have one but if anyone canshare their positive experience using one, I might want to make the investment.

Posted by: 2330 (Guest), Thursday, April 10, 2008, 6:39pm; Reply: 13

Chloe, I'm glad you brought this up because I have been thinking about trying it if I don't have to invest into too much equipment. I used to do the sun thing years ago, but, like many things, that sort of got left behind because of other things taking up so time. Boy, do those strawberries sound good! I knew a girl who traveled a lot and she would put sliced apples under the back window of her car on a sheet in the summer and in no time she had dried apples!

Posted by: Lola, Thursday, April 10, 2008, 7:34pm; Reply: 14

Quoted Text

I really donīt know why since all 3 are fine for Bīs and I feel fine with them....

how are you weight wise? ;)

Posted by: Chloe, Thursday, April 10, 2008, 7:51pm; Reply: 15

Quoted from 2330

Chloe, I'm glad you brought this up because I have been thinking about trying it if I don't have to invest into too much equipment. I used to do the sun thing years ago, but, like many things, that sort of got left behind because of other things taking up so time. Boy, do those strawberries sound good! I knew a girl who traveled a lot and she would put sliced apples under the back window of her car on a sheet in the summer and in no time she had dried apples!

Not to make you drool, but these strawberries are so naturally sweet I feel like I'm cheating.I think if I drizzled some melted dark chocolate over them, it would be the ultimate treat~

Spring, I love the concept of using a car window to dry fruit. But did you dry your fruit outdoors in the sun? How did you do it? No bugs? Or attracting birds and rodents? I really want to learn about food dehydrators. Maybe someone on this board will come forward to share their experience.

I'm a big fan of pumpkin bars. I make them for my husband to eat for breakfast at work. He starts way too early to eat before he leaves home. I have no idea what their calorific value is though. All I know is that provided DH and I eat compliantly, we don't put weight on.

Pumpkin is an avoid for Bs, but when I couldn't get pumpkin once I steamed up some butternut squash which worked just as well. I've also used pear puree and mashed banana instead of apple sauce. Mashed mango should work too but I haven't tried it.

I change the fruits every time to give him some variety, and pretty much any combination works. I've used cranberries, blueberries, raisins/sultanas, currants, apricots, prunes, figs, dates, cherries etc. Sometimes I make a nuts and chocolate chip variety, using cocoa powder instead of the spices and replacing some of the fruit with choc chips. You can replace probably up to half a cup of the fruit with chopped walnuts, pine nuts, almonds, pecans etc. You can use up to 2 cups of fruit/nuts without it going stodgy.

My baking tray yields between 12 and 15 slices, so I keep them in the freezer and do a bake every fortnight or so. Enjoy!

This sounds like a great idea! You asked what I did about bugs, etc., I used a large window screen to cover my fruit - not touching it, of course. But this is a wonderful idea and a LOT faster I would think.